CHS Cross Country Teams Test at Academy Invite

By Don Eskins

Carlsbad High’s hopes to push the Clovis Wildcats and Hobbs Eagles for this year’s district title were put to the test in Artesia on Friday, October 10.

Unfortunately, for both the Cavemen and Cavegirls, their hopes came up a bit short. The Cavemen, behind Kaleb Vasquez’s seventh-place finish and Rex Reynolds’ eighth, placed sixth in a field of 13.

Clovis placed third at the meet, and Hobbs fourth. Roswell finished 10th.

In the girls’ division, the Cavegirls placed sixth in a field of seven.

Pacing CHS’s efforts were Rainelle Ruiz, 19th, and Soledad Martinez, 22nd.

Clovis won the girls’ side of the event, while Hobbs grabbed runner-up honors.

Although disappointed with their showing in Artesia, CHS head coach Michael Sims said his charges did see some positive things.

“The Artesia Invitational is always one of our team’s favorite meets to attend,” said Sims. “Although we didn’t place as well as we had hoped to as a team or hit the marks we’d set for ourselves against our district opponents, we did see a lot of our kids record personal bests.

“With Artesia now behind us, we’ll be focusing on the Albuquerque Academy Invitational. It will give us one more opportunity to prepare for our District 4/5A tournament on Friday, October 31, in Roswell,” said the CHS coach.

“We’re getting down to crunch time, and if we’re to challenge Clovis or Hobbs for this year’s district title, our girls are going to have to push themselves really hard, from our first to fifth spots.”

Two weeks away from the District 4/5A tournament, there’s still a lot of time left for CHS to get ready to make their push for a district title.

Artesia Meet Results:

Team: Varsity Boys: 1. Alamogordo, 81; 2. Ruidoso, 81; 3. Clovis, 83; 4. Hobbs, 87; 5. Cibola, 102; 6. Carlsbad, 106; 7. Artesia, 210; 8. NMMI, 245; 9. Capitan, 265; 10. Roswell, 274; 11. Espanola, 276; 12. Cloudcroft, 324; 13. Goddard, 329.

Cavemen: 7. Kaleb Vasquez, 16:20; 8. Rex Reynolds, 16:24; 12. Javion Scott, 16:53; 34. Aiden Mendez, 17:49; 45. Dany Hernandez, 18:23; 51. Josiah Waddle, 18:46; 54. Caisen Smith, 19:05.

Team: JV Boys: 1. Clovis, 2. Hobbs, 3. NMMI, 4. Carlsbad, 5. Alamogordo, 6. Gateway Christian, 7. Artesia, 8. Cibola, 9. Roswell, 10, Cloudcroft, 11. Capitan.

Cavemen JVs: 18. Gavyn Jones, 19:36; 22. Nathan Walls, 19:56; 31. James Lopez, 20:45; 38. Lee Majerus, 21:13; 57. Gavino Olivas, 22:37; 63. Brock Lowe, 23:36.

Team: Varsity Girls: 1. Clovis, 27; 2. Hobbs, 65; 3. Espanola, 110; 4. Alamogordo, 149; 5. Artesia, 150; 6. Carlsbad, 178; 7. Capitan, 307.

Cavegirls: 19. Rainelle Ruiz, 21:24; 22. Soledad Martinez, 21:43; 39. Jocelyn Baca, 23:21; 46. Olivia Long, 24:05; 52. Jaydance Gutierrez, 25:05.

Team JV Girls: 1. Hobbs, 2. Clovis, 3. Alamogordo, 4. Roswell, 5. Cibola, 6. Artesia, 7. Gateway Christian, 8. Carlsbad.

Cavegirl JVs: 37. Chaleesta Gonzales, 26.32; 43. Jeanette Gonzales, 27:13; 62. Kassie Luebke, 31:07; 75. Zoey Wright, 34:49.